Health and healing in Escape From Tarkov can be very tricky for new players. First I’m going to do a brief breakdown and explanation of the health system, and then run down a list with an explanation of all the healing items as they stand in the game.
The Health System
Health in Escape From Tarkov works both exactly the same and completely different than in every other shooter. Like most games, getting shot will inflict damage, and the player has an overall health pool. Unlike most games, that health pool is broken up among both arms, both legs, the stomach, the thorax(chest), and the head. Each of these limbs tracks damage independently, as well as status effects such as bleeding and inflicts different major status effects if the limb is destroyed.
⦁ The Head and Thorax can not be fractured, and you will die instantly if either is reduced to 0 health.
⦁ The Right Arm reduces container searching by 50% speed and weapon manipulation takes 67% longer.
⦁ The Left Arm makes container searching take 67% longer. And slows weapon manipulation by 50%.
⦁ The Stomach can’t be fractured, but if it’s destroyed you will start to rapidly lose energy and hydration.
⦁ Both legs reduce speed by almost half when fractured or destroyed, and running while fractured will cause extra damage.
In addition, once a limb has been destroyed or “blacked out”, it can not be healed and any damage it receives is distributed around the rest of the body.
⦁ The arms deal 70% of their extra damage
⦁ The stomach distributes 150%
⦁ The legs distribute 100% including any damage taken from sprinting while they are destroyed.
Really there are four different types of medical items in Escape From Tarkov
Bandages
When a limb is wounded, there’s a chance for that limb to suffer from the “Bloodloss” status effect. Each bloodloss drains 40 HP per minute.
Bandages treat the “Blood loss” status and come in two types the Aseptic Bandage and Army Bandage. They weigh virtually the same, take up the same inventory space, and both take 2 seconds to apply.
However, Army Bandages have 2 uses per item while the Aseptic has one. Since most medical kits also stop bleeds, bandages are only really useful if you’re on a tight budget or if you’re looking to craft your own medkits as listed here on the official wiki.
Splints
Legs and Arms can also be fractured when damaged. If a limb is fractured you suffer from the debuffs I mentioned before. The cheapest, easiest way to treat these as a new player is with a splint.
Splints also come in two types and only treat one status. Immobilizing splints and Alu immobilizing splints are virtually the same but Alu splints have 5 uses while normal splints only have 1.
The next three item types are the most important for healing.
Painkillers
Ah yes, pain. The status you will encounter the most. Pain comes in three parts: Pain, Contusions, and Tremors. Pain darkens your vision, Tremors cause visible screen shake, and Contusions reduce hearing.
Since Tremors will be cured the moment their pain is also cured, all you have to worry about healing is Pain and Contusions. There are 6 different kinds of painkillers, but they all treat and prevent pain for a duration while only some treat contusions.
Cheap, common, and very effective. At Therapist level 1 3800 Roubles gets you a four use 1×1 item that has a 3-second animation and will remove pain for about 3 minutes.
Not much more effective than Analgin Painkillers, and 2 seconds slower to apply. Augmentin Antibiotics are most notable for being a crafting ingredient
Not much more effective than Analgin Painkillers, and 2 seconds slower to apply. Augmentin Antibiotics are most notable for being a crafting ingredient
Morphine Syringes are single-use painkillers that also remove contusions, a status that muffles audio and can be a lot more damning than the standard pain effect. Using a Morphine Injector takes only 2 seconds, and lasts for nearly 7 minutes.
A single dose costs 9500, three times as much as Analgin, and is only available at Therapist level 4 after completing “Health Care Privacy – Part 3”. As a side note, early game you’re much better off holding onto any that you find because Therapist and Peacekeeper both have quests that require a handful of these to have been found in-raid.
Another painkiller not quite comparable to the basic Analgin. Ibuprofen does relieve Contusions and lasts for 8 and a half minutes, but it takes 5 seconds to apply and isn’t available from a trader. It sells for just under 30k on the flea market which makes it twice as expensive as Analgin per dose even after considering Ibuprofen bottles come with 12 uses. However, they’re worth holding onto if you’re near to maxing out your reputation with Therapist as it is part of a trade for the THICC case, albeit it is the cheapest part of that trade to get your hands on.
Vaseline isn’t sold by any NPCs but it does sell for as low as 24k Roubles on the flea market. It doesn’t treat Contusions, but like Ibuprofen it will treat and prevent pain for 8 and a half minutes after applying for 6 seconds.
Golden Star Balm takes 7 seconds to apply and isn’t available through any traders. But it treats both pain and contusions for 10 minutes, as well as applying a minor buff to your energy and hydration. With such a massive time frame and 10 uses a piece in a 1×1 item, Golden Star sells for around 50K Roubles on the second-hand market.
Medkits
There are five different kinds of medkits, all of them heal damage, but some of them have the ability to clear up some statuses as well.
Small and quick to apply, but of limited utility. The AI-2 heals up to 100 points of health and has a limit of 50 health per use. The AI-2 sees a lot of use even by experienced players due to its 2-second application time. This means it’s fairly easy to find an opportunity after a fight, or even in a fight, to heal a partially damaged limb. They can’t stop bleeding, or heal fractures, and the healing might not seem like much, but spot healing before a limb gets blacked out can be key to buying yourself the luxury of healing properly after a fight. Therapist also sells these for just under 3500 Roubles so they’re always easy to get a hold of.
Available initially as a trade for 2 rolls of duct tape, the Therapist will sell Car kits for just over 6,000 Roubles once you complete the task “Sanitary Standards, p1”.
This kit takes up two inventory spaces and takes 3 seconds to apply, but it offers just over double the healing capacity of an AI-2 while also being able to stop blood loss. That being said, stopping blood loss does consume 40 points worth of healing. Another downside, and something in favor of the AI-2, is that the Car kit takes up 2 slots. This makes it a little more annoying to slot into a chest rig for easy access
Salewa weigh half as much as a Car kit and take up the same inventory space. They hold almost double the healing and only use 30 when treating blood loss. In all terms, the Salewa is better. On top of all that, Salewa’s can be crafted in the hideout and only cost about double that of a Car kit. If you have the option, take a Salewa.
The IFAK (or, Individual First Aid Kit) is a handy 1 slot item that heals 3 times as much as an AI-2 in the same package. It weighs slightly more than a Salewa, and costs about the same. But it takes up half the inventory space and that can often make all the difference. The IFAK is sold for cash by Therapist at level 3 after completing “Health Care Privacy – Part 1” but can be traded for with Therapist level 2 or crafted in the hideout with a level 2 medstation.
The Grizzly is the king of healing and experienced players will usually keep a good stock of them for post-raid healing. Grizzlys take 5 seconds to apply and occupy a 2×2 space in your inventory, but they are by far the most cost-efficient method of restoring health.
If you died 6 raids in a row, a single Grizzly will keep you going back in with full health every time and still have enough to get you in for the seventh. All the methods of acquiring a Grizzly can be a little tedious. With trade at Therapist level 2, an hour-long crafting option at Medstation level 3, and available for cash only at Therapist level 4, the only saving grace here is that it’s widely available on the flea market for just about 15% over Therapist’s price.
Surgery Kits
Finally, we have a pair of surgery kits to discuss. Surgery kits don’t heal, but they allow you to heal a limb that’s been blacked out.
The CMS is a 2×1 medical item with 5 uses that doesn’t actually heal any health. Every use of the CMS takes 16 seconds and allows you to restore a blacked-out limb to 1 HP but reduces that limb’s max HP by about half until the end of the raid. Jaeger sells the kit for 22,500 Roubles at level 2, and it can be bought on the flea market for just over 30k.
The Surv12 is similar to the CMS but has 15 uses and takes up a 3×1 slot as well as taking 20 seconds to apply. The upside of the Surv12 is that limbs it restores only lose between 20 and 10% of their max health. As a side note, the Surv12 can also heal fractures, which may or may not be very useful considering its primary role. Jaeger sells the Surv12 for 45k and it’s usually available on the flea market for under 40K.
Stimulants
I’m going to make a note here about Propital since it can function as an effective and somewhat cost-effective painkiller in its own right. But Stimulants aren’t really proper medical items and so they’ll be addressed in a separate article here. (article in progress)
